GHT-WATCH
VII.--SERVICE RENDERED
VIII.--THE TRUCE
IX.--THE OASIS
X.--THE SURRENDER

PART III

I.--BLUEBEARD'S CHAMBER
II.--EVIL TIDINGS
III.--THE BEAST OF PREY
IV.--THE FLAMING SWORD
V.--TESSA
VI.--THE ARRIVAL
VII.--FALSE PRETENCES
VIII.--THE WRATH OF THE GODS

PART IV

I.--DEVIL'S DICE
II.--OUT OF THE DARKNESS
III.--BLUEBELL
IV.--THE SERPENT IN THE DESERT
V.--THE WOMAN'S WAY
VI.--THE SURPRISE PARTY
VII.--RUSTAM KARIN
VIII.--PETER
IX.--THE CONSUMING FIRE
X.--THE DESERT PLACE

PART V

I.--GREATER THAN DEATH
II.--THE LAMP
III.--TESSA'S MOTHER
IV.--THE BROAD ROAD
V.--THE DARK NIGHT
VI.--THE FIRST GLIMMER
VII.--THE FIRST VICTIM
VIII.--THE FIERY VORTEX
IX.--THE DESERT OF ASHES
X.--THE ANGEL
XI.--THE DAWN
XII.--THE BLUE JAY

PART I

CHAPTER I

BEGGAR'S CHOICE

A great roar of British voices pierced the jewelled curtain of the
Indian night. A toast with musical honours was being drunk in the
sweltering dining-room of the officers' mess. The enthusiastic hubbub
spread far, for every door and window was flung wide. Though the season
was yet in its infancy, the heat was intense. Markestan had the
reputation in the Indian Army for being one of the hottest corners in
the Empire in more senses than one, and Kurrumpore, the military centre,
had not been chosen for any especial advantages of climate. So few
indeed did it possess in the eyes of Europeans that none ever went there
save those whom an inexorable fate compelled. The rickety, wooden
bungalows scattered about the cantonment were temporary lodgings, not
abiding-places. The women of the community, like migratory birds, dwelt
in them for barely four months in the year, flitting with the coming of
the pitiless heat to Bhulwana, their little paradise in the Hills. But
that was a twenty-four hours' journey away, and the men had to be
content with an occasional week's leave from the depths of their
inferno, unless, as Tommy Denvers put it, they were lucky enough to go
sick, in which case their sojourn in paradise was prolonged, much to the
delight of the angels.

But on that hot night the annual flitting of the angels had not yet come
to pass, and notwithstanding the heat the last dance of the season was
to take place at the Club House. The occasion was an exceptional one, as
the jovial sounds that issued from the officers' mess-house testified.
Round after round of cheers fol